United Nations MONUSCO repels deadly attack by suspected ADF in Mamundioma, North Kivu province, DR Congo October 2017. (Photo MONUSCO/Force)
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
UNITED NATIONS – NEW YORK – The Secretary General of the UN supports the decision of leaders of the East African Community (EAC) to dispatch a regional force to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to extinguish a resurgence of violence across northeast DRC. Leaders of EAC last Monday June 20 held a closed door- meeting, 3rd EAC Heads of State conclave on inter-Congolese Dialogue of the Nairobi process in Kenya to discuss the prolonged security crisis in the east of the DRC, where the military has been fighting a resurgence of M23 rebels. The Heads of State also directed that an immediate ceasefire should be enforced and cessation of hostilities should commence immediately, including withdrawal from recently taken positions.
Some political observers are questioning why the UN chief would back a military solution to the crisis in DRC rather than a political and/or diplomatic resolution. They say it could open Pandora’s Box in the troubled region.
Last week after leaders of the EAC announced the decision to send military troops to east DRC, the spokesperson for UN Secretary General António Guterres told reporters during a press briefing said the UN peacekeeping mission there (MONUSCO) strongly condemns new attacks by the M23 against its own positions in Shangi, in the North Kivu province. The spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, also said the Secretary-General, for his part, “fully supports the decision taken by the leaders of the EAC.” However, no troops have been dispatched to the eastern DRC region one week after the announcement.
“The proposal has been received with mistrust and even rejection by a large section of politicians, civil society and even the public, who are particularly wary of the possibility of having Rwandan troops in the contingent,” The East African wrote in an article.
During a press briefing Tuesday June 28 with reporters at UN world headquarters, the spokesperson for the Secretary-General reiterated his backing for the deployment of regional troops to the DRC. Diplomatic Times questioned why the Secretary-General is backing a military solution rather than diplomacy to the DRC crisis, and what, if any, would the United Nations Organization Mission in Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), would play in disarming M23 rebels.
“Well, I think the Secretary General is always supporting a diplomatic solution. The decisions made does not… by the East African Community is not one that directly involves the (UN MONUSCO) peacekeeping force. I think it is very important that whatever other military forces are in the region coordinate their activities and also focus their activities on the protection of civilians. I mean, that’s what we want. I mean, there is, obviously… when you have security needs because civilians are being killed, right, by armed groups, there’s, of course, a security dimension to the solution; but there also needs to be a diplomatic one, especially when it comes to the countries in the region. We are also very much against the use of… what we’ve seen are basically proxies, of countries using armed groups to drive home a point, to put it diplomatically. So, you can both understand the need for a security solution and also focus on a diplomatic solution.”
-UN SG spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric June 28, 2022
(Photo By Gary Raynaldo / ©Diplomatic Times) Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General of the United Nations briefs reporters at UN world headquarters in New York June 28, 2022.
There have been 230 UN MONUSCO peacekeeping soldiers killed since the mission was established in 2010. The MONUSCO annual 2020-2021 budget is $1,123,346,000 US dollars.
